Field
The present invention relates to a dimmable smart light emitting diode (LED) lighting apparatus and, more particularly, to a plurality of dimmable LED lighting apparatuses directly connected to one dimmer.
Discussion of the Background
In recent years, a dimmable LED lighting apparatus is widely used. Such a dimmable LED lighting apparatus is composed of a dimmer and an LED lighting apparatus, and is configured to allow control of illuminance in response to a dimming signal from the dimmer. However, a typical dimmable LED lighting apparatus and/or an illumination system including such an LED lighting apparatus have various problems. Hereinafter, the problems of the typical dimmable LED lighting apparatus and/or the illumination system including such an LED lighting apparatus will be described.
First, in order to perform dimming control of a plurality of LED lighting apparatuses at the same time, an illumination system capable of simultaneously controlling dimming levels of the plurality of LED lighting apparatuses using a single dimmer is used in the related art. In such a typical illumination system, the dimmer is directly connected to the plurality of LED lighting apparatuses via a cable line. However, such a typical illumination system has problems as follows. First, since the dimmer is connected to the LED lighting apparatuses via the cable line, a dimming signal sent from the dimmer to the LED lighting apparatuses can be distorted due to influence of external noise and the like. Generally, such an illumination system employs a dimming signal at a relatively low voltage (for example, 0.4V˜2V), the dimming signal can be negatively influenced by, particularly, surrounding noise. Second, connection between the dimmer and the LED lighting apparatuses via the cable line causes generation of electromagnetic waves during transmission of the dimming signal to the LED lighting apparatuses, thereby having a negative influence on the LED lighting apparatus. Third, since the plurality of LED lighting apparatuses is electrically connected to one dimmer via the cable line, it can be considered that the dimmer and the plurality of LED lighting apparatuses constitute a circuit. Accordingly, upon failure of a certain LED lighting apparatus among the plurality of LED lighting apparatuses, the entire illumination system stops to operate, and the other LED lighting apparatuses and the dimmer malfunction due to failure of the certain LED lighting apparatus.
Further, such a typical dimmable LED lighting apparatus has a problem in that, when a dimming signal is not sent from the dimmer to the LED lighting apparatus, the LED lighting apparatus does not operate. More specifically, when the dimmer malfunctions, when there is a problem in the connection line between the dimmer and the LED lighting apparatus, when there is a malfunction of an input terminal to which the dimming signal is input, and the like, the dimming signal is not supplied to the LED lighting apparatus. In this case, although there is no problem in terms of a lighting function of the LED lighting apparatus, the LED lighting apparatus does not operate. That is, when the dimming signal is not sent to the LED lighting apparatus for the aforementioned reasons, the LED lighting apparatus does not operate since the determined dimming level is 0%.
On the other hand, some typical LED lighting apparatuses are configured to have a jumper set to provide the dimming function or not to provide such function. Accordingly, this type of dimmable LED lighting apparatus is required to change jumper setting attached to a drive IC by disassembling the LED lighting apparatus in order to change setting as to use of the dimming function. As a result, this type of dimmable LED lighting apparatus does not allow easy setting as to use of the dimming function and is very difficult for an unskilled person to change jumper setting thereof.
On the other hand, demand for various and complicated functions of a lighting apparatus has been increasing in the related art. For example, in recent years, the lighting apparatus has been increasingly required to have a color temperature (CT) or correlated color temperature (CCT) control function that enables provision of various lighting conditions and circumstances through change of illuminance of light emitted from the lighting apparatus, rather than a simple lighting function which has been demanded in the related art. However, the aforementioned dimmable LED lighting apparatus is configured to control only light output, that is, illuminance, and thus fails to satisfy various consumer demands as described above.
Moreover, there is an increasing trend of integrally controlling a plurality of LED lighting apparatuses through integration of the plurality of LED lighting apparatuses into a monolithic LED illumination system. Representative examples of such integrated control illumination systems include a street lamp system, a tunnel lamp system, and the like. However, such LED illumination systems allow only simple on/off control of the LED lighting apparatuses or simultaneous illuminance control of all the LED lighting apparatuses, and cannot perform a systematically integrated control of the LED lighting apparatuses according to surrounding circumstances.
The present invention has been conceived to solve the aforementioned problems in the related art.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a dimmable LED lighting apparatus electrically insulated from a dimmer while allowing transmission and reception of dimming signals between the dimmable LED lighting apparatus and the dimmer such that failure of one LED lighting apparatus does not affect the other LED lighting apparatuses, thereby enabling normal operation of the other LED lighting apparatuses.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide an LED lighting apparatus that can be normally operated at a maximum dimming level even upon failure of a dimmer or an interconnection line.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide an LED lighting apparatus that can be normally operated at a maximum dimming level through simple manipulation in the case where a user does not want to use a dimming function.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a dimmable LED lighting apparatus capable of outputting various color temperatures through dimming control of LED groups.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a smart illumination system that includes a plurality of lighting apparatuses and is capable of performing individual dimming control of the lighting apparatuses in response to detection signals sent from a motion sensor and an illumination sensor.
The above and other objects and the following advantageous effects of the present invention can be achieved by features of the present invention, which will be described hereinafter.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a dimmable LED lighting apparatus includes: a power input unit generating drive voltage through rectification of received AC power and outputting the generated drive voltage to the drive controller; an insulation type signal transceiver receiving a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal output from a PWM dimmer and outputting the PWM signal to the drive controller, while electrically insulating the PWM dimmer from the drive controller; a first LED group to an nth LED group (n being a positive integer of 2 or higher) receiving the drive voltage and sequentially operating under control of the drive controller; and a drive controller controlling sequential operation of the first LED group to the nth LED group according to a voltage level of the drive voltage, determining a dimming level based on the received PWM dimming signal, and controlling dimming of the first LED group to the nth LED group based on the determined dimming level.
The drive controller may include an integrating circuit that receives the PWM dimming signal and outputs a dimming signal detected through integration of the received PWM dimming signal for a pulse period, and the drive controller may determine the dimming level based on an average voltage of the detected dimming signal.
The insulation type signal transceiver may include a light source that outputs light obtained through conversion of the PWM dimming signal from the PWM dimmer, and a photodetector that outputs an electrical signal obtained through conversion of the PWM dimming signal received in the form of light.
The insulation type signal transceiver may further include a noise filter that filters high frequency noise from the received PWM dimming signal.
The insulation type signal transceiver may further include a constant current control device that maintains current supplied to the light source at a constant level.
The insulation type signal transceiver may further include a reverse voltage protection diode that protects the LED lighting apparatus from reverse voltage applied thereto.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a dimmable LED lighting system includes: a PWM dimmer outputting a PWM dimming signal in response to a dimming level; and a plurality of dimmable LED lighting apparatuses as set forth above. Here, the plurality of dimmable LED lighting apparatuses is connected to the PWM dimmer.
In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, a dimmable LED lighting apparatus includes: a reverse pulse width modulation (PWM) dimmer receiving a dimming level and outputting a reverse PWM dimming signal by inverting the received dimming level; a power input unit generating drive voltage through rectification of received AC power and outputting the generated drive voltage to the drive controller; an insulation type signal transceiver receiving the reverse PWM dimming signal and outputting the reverse PWM dimming signal to the drive controller, while electrically insulating the reverse PWM dimmer from the drive controller;
a first LED group to an nth LED group (n being a positive integer of 2 or higher) receiving the drive voltage and sequentially operating under control of the drive controller; and a drive controller controlling sequential operation of the first LED group to the nth LED group according to a voltage level of the drive voltage, reinverting the received reverse PWM dimming signal into a PWM dimming signal, determining a dimming level based on the PWM dimming signal, and controlling dimming of the first LED group to the nth LED group based on the determined dimming level.
The drive controller may include an inverting circuit that outputs the PWM dimming signal by re-inverting the received reverse PWM dimming signal.
The inverting circuit may include a pull-up resistance and a clamping diode.
The inverting circuit may include an inverting amplifier.
The drive controller may include an integrating circuit that receives the PWM dimming signal and outputs a dimming signal detected through integration of the received PWM dimming signal for a pulse period, and the drive controller may determine the dimming level based on an average voltage of the detected dimming signal.
The insulation type signal transceiver may include a light source that outputs light obtained through conversion of the reverse PWM dimming signal from the reverse PWM dimmer, and a photodetector that outputs an electrical signal obtained through conversion of the reverse PWM dimming signal received in the form of light.
The insulation type signal transceiver may further include a noise filter that filters high frequency noise from the received reverse PWM dimming signal.
The insulation type signal transceiver may further include a constant current control device that maintains current supplied to the light source at a constant level.
The insulation type signal transceiver may further include a reverse voltage protection diode that protects the LED lighting apparatus from reverse voltage applied thereto.
In accordance with yet another exemplary embodiment of the invention, a dimmable LED lighting apparatus includes: a power input unit generating drive voltage through rectification of received AC power and outputting the generated drive voltage to the first lighting module and the second lighting module; an insulation type signal transceiver receiving a PWM dimming signal output from a PWM dimmer and outputting the PWM dimming signal to the first lighting module while electrically isolating the PWM dimmer from the first lighting module; a first lighting module receiving the drive voltage and the PWM dimming signal to perform illumination based on a dimming level; and a second lighting module receiving the drive voltage to perform illumination.
The first lighting module may include a first light emitting unit including at least one LED group; and a first drive controller sequentially driving the one or more LED groups of the first light emitting unit according to a voltage level of the received drive voltage, determining the dimming level based on the PWM dimming signal, and controlling dimming of the one or more LED groups of the first light emitting unit based on the determined dimming level, and the second lighting module may include a second light emitting unit including one or more LED groups and a second drive controller sequentially driving the one or more LED groups of the second light emitting unit according to a voltage level of the received drive voltage.
The first drive controller may include an integrating circuit that receives the PWM dimming signal and outputs a dimming signal detected through integration of the received PWM dimming signal for a pulse period. The first drive controller may determine the dimming level based on an average voltage of the detected dimming signal.
The insulation type signal transceiver may include a light source that outputs light obtained through conversion of the PWM dimming signal from the PWM dimmer, and a photodetector that outputs an electrical signal obtained through conversion of the PWM dimming signal received in the form of light.
A color temperature of the one or more LED groups of the first light emitting unit may be different from that of the one or more LED groups of the second light emitting unit.
The insulation type signal transceiver may further include a noise filter that filters high frequency noise from the received PWM dimming signal.
The insulation type signal transceiver may further include a constant current control device that maintains current supplied to the light source at a constant level.
The insulation type signal transceiver may further include a reverse voltage protection diode that protects the LED lighting apparatus from reverse voltage applied thereto.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, a smart illumination system includes at least one sensor unit including one of a motion sensor and a photo-detection sensor; at least one dimming unit connected to the sensor unit and determining a dimming level based on a detection signal from the motion sensor or the photo-detection sensor and outputting a PWM dimming signal based on the dimming level; and at least one lighting module connected to the dimming unit and receiving the PWM dimming signal and AC power to determine the dimming level based on the PWM dimming signal and to perform illumination while controlling dimming according to the dimming level.
The dimming unit may transmit the PWM dimming signal to the at least one lighting module connected to the dimming unit. Here, the dimming unit may be electrically insulated from the at least one lighting module connected to the dimming unit.
The lighting module may include a light source that outputs light obtained through conversion of the PWM dimming signal from the PWM dimmer, and a photodetector that outputs an electrical signal obtained through conversion of the PWM dimming signal received in the form of light.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, a dimmable LED lighting apparatus includes: a reverse dimmer receiving a dimming level and outputting a reverse dimming signal by inverting the received dimming level; a power input unit generating drive voltage through rectification of received AC power and outputting the generated drive voltage to the drive controller; an LED group receiving the drive voltage and operating under control of the drive controller; and a drive controller reinverting the received reverse dimming signal into a dimming signal, determining a dimming level based on the dimming signal, and controlling dimming of the LED group based on the determined dimming level.
In accordance with yet aspect of the invention, a dimmable LED lighting apparatus includes: a reverse pulse width modulation (PWM) dimmer receiving a dimming level and outputting a reverse PWM dimming signal by inverting the dimming level; a power input unit generating drive voltage through rectification of received AC power and outputting the generated drive voltage to the drive controller; an insulation type signal transceiver receiving the reverse PWM dimming signal and outputting the reverse PWM dimming signal to the drive controller, while electrically insulating the reverse PWM dimmer from the drive controller; an LED group receiving the drive voltage and operating under control of the drive controller; and a drive controller reinverting the received reverse PWM dimming signal into a PWM dimming signal, determining a dimming level based on the PWM dimming signal, and controlling dimming of the LED group based on the determined dimming level.
According to one exemplary embodiment of the invention, in the structure wherein a plurality of lighting apparatuses is directly connected to a dimmer, failure of one LED lighting apparatus does not affect the other LED lighting apparatuses, thereby enabling normal operation of the other LED lighting apparatuses.
According to another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the lighting apparatus may be turned on/off using an inverted dimming signal without application of a new dimming signal, whereby the lighting apparatus can be normally operated at a maximum dimming level even in the event where there is a problem in the dimmer or the interconnection line or when a user does not want to use a dimming function.
According to a further embodiment of the invention, illumination with various color temperatures may be realized through dimming control of only one of LED groups having different color temperatures in a single lighting apparatus.
According to yet another embodiment of the invention, an illumination system includes a plurality of lighting apparatuses, each of which is systemically associated with other lighting apparatuses while allowing individual dimming control based on various sensing data including surrounding objects or surrounding illuminance obtained using sensors therein, thereby improving illumination efficiency and user convenience.